SCHAAFFHATJSEN ON THE CRANIA OF THE ANCIENT KACES OF MAN. 159 



The bones adhere strongly to the tongue, although, as proved by 

 the use of hydrochloric acid, the greater part of the cartilage is still re- 

 tained in them, which appears, however, to have undergone that trans- 

 formation into gelatine which has been observed by v. Bibra in fossil 

 bones. The surface of all the bones is in many spots covered with mi- 

 nute black specks, which, more especially under a lens, are seen to be 

 formed of very delicate dendrites. These deposits, which were first 

 observed on the bones by Dr. Mayer, are most distinct on the inner 

 surface of the cranial bones. They consist of a ferruginous compound, 

 and, from their black colour, may be supposed to contain manganese. 

 Similar dendritic formations also occur, not unfrequently, on laminated 

 rocks, and are usually found in minute fissures and cracks. At the 

 meeting of the Lower Rhine Society at Bonn, on the 1st April, 1857, 

 Prof. Mayer stated that he had noticed in the museum of Poppelsdorf 

 similar dendritic crystallizations on several fossil bones of animals, and 

 particularly on those of Ursus spelceus, but still more abundantly and 

 beautifully displayed on the fossil bones and teeth of Eqims adamitieus, 

 JElephas primigenias, &c, from the caves of Bolve and Sundwig. Faint 

 indications of similar dendrites were visible in a Roman skull from Sieg- 

 burg ; whilst other ancient skulls which had lain for centuries in the 

 earth presented no trace of them.* I am indebted to H. v. Meyer for 

 the following remarks on this subject : — 



" The incipient formation of dendritic deposits, which were formerly 

 regarded as a sign of a truly fossil condition, is interesting. It has even 

 been supposed that in diluvial deposits the presence of dendrites might 

 be regarded as affording a certain mark of distinction between bones 

 mixed with the diluvium at a somewhat later period and the true dilu- 

 vial relics, to which alone it was supposed that these deposits were con- 

 fined. But I have long been convinced that neither can the absence of 

 dendrites be regarded as indicative of recent age, nor their presence as 

 sufficient to establish the great antiquity of the objects upon which 

 they occur. I have myself noticed upon paper, which could scarcely 

 be more than a year old, dendritic deposits, which could not be distin- 

 guished from those on fossil bones. Thus I possess a dog's skull from 

 the Roman colony of the neighbouring Heddersheim, Castrum Hadria- 

 num, which is in no way distinguishable from the fossil bones from the 

 Frankish caves ; it presents the same colour, and adheres to the tongue 

 just as they do ; so that this character also, which, at a former meeting 

 of German naturalists at Bonn, gave rise to amusing scenes between 

 Buckland and Schmerling, is no longer of any value. In disputed cases, 

 therefore, the condition of the bone can scarcely afford the means for de- 

 termining with certainty whether it be fossil, that is to say, whether it 

 belong to geological antiquity, or to the historical period." 



As we cannot now look upon the primitive world as representing a 

 wholly different condition of things, from which no transition exists to 



* Verh. des Naturhist. Yereins in Bonn, xiv., 1857. 



